Merced, California
Approximately 20 school bus drivers in the Los Banos Unified School District were trained by law enforcement on how to respond to a gunman attacking their bus. The training was done by the Mercer County Sheriff's Department. The training was reportedly designed to give the bus drivers "hands-on, practical skills for dealing with a gunman on a bus."
"We go over mentality of active shooters. We give statistics of past
incidents, the do's and the don'ts. We give strategies for survival and
basically we go over scenarios," said a department spokesman.
The Transportation Director said, "We're not in a classroom, we're in a bus, I think it all applies. The
same thing that could happen in the classroom could happen on a bus."
The spokesperson added, "Eventually, our goal is for all districts to have a template and the
know-how to preserve life in dealing with active shooters."
Yesterday I blogged about the furor over a driver who witnessed a beating on his bus. Yesterday's blog, and today's story exemplify the problem facing education today. Educators.
I have been an educator for 25 years, and I have the utmost respect for for my fellow educators for the dedication, professionalism, and caring they show everyday. However, as a former Infantry Drill Sergeant and Infantry platoon leader, they are not the most tactically proficient people. The same mindset that allows them to develop rapport with their students and care deeply enough to spend long hours teaching and grading papers is at odds with the mindset needed to face interpersonal violence and function.
In Staying Alive, a book I co-authored with Mike Dorn and Sonayia Shepherd, we talk about how to develop that mindset. We talk about the importance of training, including scenario training. However, it has to be realistic. Active Shooter incidents are very rare. Active Shooter incidents on school buses are even more rare. The various techniques for remaining calm under stress are critical, as is the setting in which these techniques are taught.
In this type of setting the people who are being taught, with no tactical background, will remember the skills learned in the context of an Active Shooter. Thus a similar but markedly different scenario, such as a student holding a gun to his own head, will most likely spark a tactical response not suited to the scenario. Such a reaction may spark a more violent reaction than intended, or wanted.
Active Shooter training sounds 'sexy', but is a very small subset of school violence. As a precursor to further training, training like this can be great. As a way to train people to react in all crises, it's not so good.
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